The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful, says Plato. Self-control is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses (冲动) and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom.
A single angry word has lost many a friend. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. Keep cool, says George Herbert, for fierceness (狂怒) makes error a fault.
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. Anger, says Pythagoras, brings with folly(愚蠢) and ends with regret. You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him.
Self-control is man’s last greatest victory.
If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also.
【小题1】What does the reader learn from the first paragraph?

A．the very backbone and nerve of character

B．the patience and power to control himself

C．strong feelings

D．self-confidence

From the health point of view we are living in an amazing age．We are free from many of the most dangerous diseases．A large number of once deadly illnesses can now be cured by modem medicine．It is almost certain that one day medicines will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases, The expectation of life has increased greatly．But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the unbelievable killing of men, women and children on the roads．Man vs the motor-cart,It is a never-ending battle which man is losing．Thousands of people over the world are killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen．
It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel （方向盘）, his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man's very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become crazy when they are behind a steering-wheel .They are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-year-olds and completely selfish．All their hidden angers and disappointments seem to be brought to die surface by the act of driving．
The surprising thing is that society smiles so gently on the motorist and seems to forgive his behaviour. Everything is done for his convenience.Cities are allowed to become almost uninhabitable(不宜居住的） because of heavy traffic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is ruined by road networks; and the deaths become nothing more than a number every year, to be easily forgotten．
It is high time that a world rule was created to reduce this senseless waste of human life．With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are unbelievably lax（不严格）and even the strictest are not strict enough．A rule which was universally accepted could only have an obviously beneficial effect on the accident rate．Here are a few examples of some of the things that might be done．The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through strict tests for safety each year．Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can damage a person's driving ability．Present drinking and driving laws should be revised much stricter．Speed limits should be required on all roads．Governments should lay down safety directions for car factories, as has been done in the USA．All advertising stressing power and performance should be banned．These measures may not sound good enough．But surely nothing should be considered as too severe if it results in reducing the number of deaths．After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars．
【小题1】What is the main idea of this passage?

Once upon a time a man became a great archer(射手)．He asked the king to declare

him as the greatest archer of the country．The king was about to do so when an old

servant of the king said，“Wait，sir．I know an old man who lives in the forest．He is a

much greater archer．Let this young man go to him and learn from him for at least three

years．”

The man could not believe that there could be a greater archer than him，but he

went and found the old man and he was! For three years he learned from him．Then one

day, when he thought he had learned everything，the thought arose in him：“If I kill this

old man，then 1 will be the greatest archer．”

The old man had gone to cut wood and he was coming back carrying wood On his

shoulder．The young man hid behind a tree，waiting to kill him．He shot an arrow．The

old man took a small piece of wood and threw it．It struck the arrow and the arrow

turned back and wounded the young man very deeply．The old man came，took Out the

arrow and said。“I knew that some day or other you were going to do this．That’s  why

I have not taught you this secret．There is no need to kill me．My Master is still alive，

and I’m nothing before him．You must be with him for at least thirty years．And he is

very old, so go fast! Find the old man!”

The underlined word in the 1st paragraph is closest in meaning to“       ”

A．admire    B．advise    C．announce     D．admit

The young archer wanted to kill the old man in the

A．he had nothing more to learn from him

B．he could then become the greatest archer

C．the old man refused to teach him everything

D．the king’s old servant ordered him to do SO

The following pictures show what happened between the young archer and his

   master．Which is the right order of the events?

A．1—2—3—4    B．4—3—2—1

C．4—2—3—1    D．4—2—1—3

What do you think would most probably happen next?

A．The young archer died from the wound soon after．

B．The king declared the young man the greatest archer．

C．The young archer found the old man’s master and killed him．

D．The young archer set off to look for the old man’ S master．

What lesson can you learn from the story?

A．There’s always someone better than you in this world．

B．You must never try to become better than your teacher．

C．The older a man is，the better archer he usually becomes．

D．Always use a piece of wood to protect yourself from an arrow．

To face the music

Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is “to face the music”.

When someone says, “well, I guess I’ll have to face the music,” it does not mean he’s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn’t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father’s angry voice, “I want to talk to you.” and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!

The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, “Well, it’s time to face the music.” And that was exactly what they did — facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression “to face the music” come to mean “having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.”

Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do? 

Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.

1. How many ways does the phrase “to face the music” comes from?

A. 1        B. 2        C. 3       D. 4

2. What’s the meaning of “to face the music?”

A. To face something far less pleasant.

B. To face the stage.

C. To face the back of one’s horse.

D. To face one’s leader.

3. Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?

A. When we are playing basketball.  

B. When we are making a speech.

C. When we are having a party.

D. When we are talking with somebody. 

4. The underlined word “hostile” means _______. 

A. unfriendly               B. dislike        C. unkind                     D. unnecessary

There are times when people are so tired that they fall asleep almost anywhere. We can see a lot of people sleeping on the bus or train on their way home __【小题1】__ work in the evening. A man will be reading the newspaper, and seconds later it appears as if he is trying to eat it. Or he will fall asleep on the shoulder of the stranger sitting next to him. Another place where __【小题2】__ (plan) short sleep goes on is in the lecture hall __【小题3】__ a student will start snoring so loudly that the professor has to ask __【小题4】__ student to shake the sleeper awake. A more _【小题5】__ (embarrass) situation occurs when a student starts falling into sleep and __【小题6】__ weight of the head pushes the arm off the desk, and the movement carries the rest of the body along. The student wakes up on the floor with no memory of getting there. The __【小题7】_ (bad) time to fall asleep is when driving. Police reports are full of accidents that occur when people fall into sleep and go off the road. __【小题8】__ the drivers are lucky, they are not seriously hurt. One woman’s car, for example, went into the river. She woke up in four feet of water and thought that it __【小题9】__ (rain). When people are really tired, __【小题10】__ will stop them from falling asleep — no matter where they are.